We are rolling through the Portland Farmers Market high season with hardly a breath between markets. The harvest is here in splendid abundance, the farmers are tired from long days (and nights) of labor, and Portlanders are awash in the edible rewards of backyard gardens and local farmers’ markets. Everyone, from the bees to the squirrels, is hard at work with an eye towards the cooler, darker days of fall.

Before the rains arrive though, we’d like to spend a little more time reveling in the peppers, melons, tomatoes, stone fruit and squashes of the full summer sun. An easy way to do that is by enjoying a humble workhorse of the vegetable world: zucchini. By virtue of its easygoing nature and prolific production, zukes are omnipresent this time of year and under appreciated by (almost) all the food lovers we encounter. One exception to the zucchini naysayers crowd is PFM volunteer Nicolette Smith. She has lately been singing the praises of zucchini on our blog. Check out what she has to say and see if you aren’t newly converted!

If you have lived in or visited Portland for more than twenty-four hours, you know it’s a serious food town. Beyond “local, seasonal, sustainable” restaurants and backyard gardens aplenty, this is a town that knows what to look for in a good olive oil, how to tell sylvanberries from blackberries, and the pleasure to be had in whipping up an impromptu feast from the farmer’s market.

It’s the celebration of ingredient-driven cooking with the freshest produce that inspires much of the culinary programming at Portland Farmers Market. When it’s warranted, we do our best to nudge customers in the direction of improvisational cooking, rather than relying heavily on recipes or exotic ingredients. Chef in the Market demonstrations at the flagship PSU market, Taste the Place recipe samplings at neighborhood markets, and Kids Cook at the Market classes all pay homage to the joy of creating simple, delectable dishes from seasonal bounty.

We have many terrific partners in our quest to nurture edible creativity. One such gem is Katherine Deumling, proprietor of the home-based cooking school Cook With What You Have. Katherine is as passionate as we are about spontaneity in the kitchen and we invite you to see for yourself when Katherine joins us at the Buckman Market on July 22nd from 4:30-6:00pm to provide ideas for quick dinners and picnic foods. The cooking demonstration is in support of our Fresh Exchange market money match program for SNAP recipients.

If you can’t meet us at the market next Thursday, explore Cook With What You Have upcoming classes here.

Join us at the market this summer and get started on your next flavor adventure!

The Holy Day of Barbecue will soon be upon us. Are you looking to shake it up, get out from behind the grill, and do something different this year? How about joining us for our Build a Burger fundraiser BBQ at the King Market on Sunday, July 4th between 11-1? Build a Burger will feature market-fresh burgers (and Tofurky for the veggies among us) with all the fixin’s, courtesy of market vendors and area businesses. All proceeds from the scrumptious event benefit Foodshare Fund Northeast, a market money matching program for SNAP recipients (SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) who shop the King Portland Farmers Market.

Find out more about Build a Burger here and our market money match programs here.

At least that’s how the Urban Sketchers see it. As a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the artistic, storytelling, and educational value of location drawing, Urban sketchers promotes the practice of capturing everyday phenomena through a variety of mediums and connects artists around the world through a network of blogs and photo-sharing groups. By providing an online forum in which people connect through their personal artwork, Urban Sketchers has created a new type of dynamic social media that reflects not only the artists’ individual experiences, but also the living, breathing scenes and cities that they have captured. If a picture can say a thousand words, the Urban Sketchers project speaks volumes.

As a city that embodies all things ‘local’ and ‘artistic,’ it’s no wonder that the Urban Sketchers of Portland have thrived as a chapter of this global network. Combining Portland’s artistic appreciation and support for the local food movement, Urban Sketchers of Portland have designated this Sunday’s King Portland Farmers Market as the next location of it’s city-wide ‘sketchcrawl’ . They invite all artists – professional, self-proclaimed, or amateur – to join in, so maybe it’s your turn to slow down, take a break, and see the world one drawing at a time.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Portland Farmers Market would not exist without volunteers. Volunteer power launched PFM almost twenty years ago, it played a crucial role in building the organization into the local foods powerhouse that it is today, and it sustains us through each hectic market season. From counting tokens at the office to fielding customer questions from the Market information booth, we rely on this rock-solid base of foodies to help us keep up the good work and laugh a lot while doing so.

Take a peek behind the red volunteer apron with this blog post from one of our newest volunteers, Nicolette Smith.

We are looking ahead to a busy week in the food world. With three markets opening, the Portland Farmers Market office is buzzing, the totes are flying, and the market maps are being finalized. Check our our latest blog entry for all the details.

The countdown to opening day continues with only one week left before we pull out the tents and ring the opening bell for our flagship market, the Portland Farmers Market at PSU, opening March 20. If you haven’t already heard, we will expand to include the block directly south of its existing location. The expansion will allow the more than 120 vendors and 10,000+ shoppers more space to shop for farm-fresh produce, baked goods, meats, cheeses, seafood and more. Although the Saturday PSU farmers’ market location will double in size, we will not double the number of vendor booths. Instead, vendor booths will line up along the perimeter of the South Park Blocks, eliminating the majority of the inner ring of vendors’ stalls (aka ‘mud row’) formerly packed into the previous market footprint.

If you want to do some advance reconnaissance to find your favorite farmer fast, we have provided a map of the vendor locations for opening day. The locations shift week by week as the season progresses. Look for these new vendors as you stroll through the market this season:

Farm. – Farm. is an exciting new produce venture in Oregon’s French Prairie region. Young farmers have come together, informed by the tried and true practices of the American family farmer.

15 Miles Farm – This local farm sells a variety of certified organic fruits and vegetables, and a large portion of their harvest is donated to local charities including the Oregon Food Bank.

Nut-Tricious Foods – Nut-Tricious Foods specializes in agave nectar-sweetened fresh nut and seed butter blends, including almond, cashew, hazelnut and walnut. Utilizing their unique and proprietary processes, they maintain the nut and seeds’ nutritional value and benefits. They will be at the market once a month as a product representative.

Oregon Kombucha – Oregon Kombucha creates kombucha – a naturally fermented tea beverage – from cultures grown in Portland using only four ingredients. Half of the tea used for brewing is sourced locally. They will be at the market once a month as a product representative.

Sassafrass Catering – Sassasfras will be selling their line of unique relishes, chutneys and preserves based on old-world Southern recipes. All of their products are created in small batches at the peak of the season, and they strive to buy their ingredients directly from local farmers.

Sexton Ranches – Sexton Ranches is a family owned ranch in Eastern Oregon that raises natural grass-fed and grass-finished lamb and beef, plus pastured poultry and eggs from pastured hens.

Upright Brewing Company – This small craft brewery specializes in French and Belgian-inspired farmhouse ales, which will be available in 750 ml bottles.

Via Chicago – Chicago-style pizza for real! Via Chicago makes the real thing four different ways, with the freshest local ingredients around.

Upstream Public Health is a non-profit organization that promotes the health of all Oregonians by advocating for bold, innovative policies that will create communities where people can thrive. At Upstream, we look at the sources of today’s major health problems; identify creative, evidenced-based policy solutions that will address those root causes; and campaign to make them law by educating policy makers and the media about how our solutions will make people live longer and reduce future health care costs.

Portland Farmers Market operates vibrant farmers markets that contribute to the success of local food growers and producers, strengthen our food economy and serve as community gathering places.

The vision:

PFM creates vibrant opportunities for the region’s agriculture community to come together with urban residents to share the bounty of our land. The downtown Saturday Farmers Market at PSU is our signature weekly event that supports growers and artisan food preparers. Our other markets extend our services throughout the week. PFM strives to maximize the consumption of local foods through leadership in the farm direct movement; create educational programs to strengthen consumer support of local agriculture; and explore additional distribution channels for farm direct products. PFM is financially stable and places high priority on maintaining our financial health. PFM seeks to operate at the highest level of integrity in our dealings with customers, Vendors, and partners.